The Web is the primary means by which our instructors deliver online course materials to students. And in most cases, the course website is on Blackboard. Blackboard is a commercial course management system. In the academic year 2007–2008, the School of Arts & Sciences had 2853 Blackboard sites for courses.

Quick Links

• Blackboard Login Page
• Blackboard Support (and Self-Help): Documentation, Forms
• Online Form for Requesting Blackboard Support
• Courseware and Library Services
• Electronic Reserves
• Blackboard Course Site Request Form (for instructors & instructional staff)
• Blackboard tutorials in the LRC documentation repository
• Your suggestions for enhancements to Blackboard (at Blackboard.com)

Blackboard Site Creation

Blackboard sites are created on request. They are not created automatically. Also, a new Blackboard site is needed for each new semester (in order to give automatic access to the new sememster's students). Materials can easily be copied into a site from the previous year's site.

It's easy for instructors and their assistants to create websites for courses with Blackboard courseware. Use our online forms to request a Blackboard site or to request assistance with Blackboard.

Blackboard Site Duration

Currently, a Blackboard site lasts for about twelve months from the beginning of the semester in which the course was taught. This duration allows an instructor to transfer materials to a new site taught within a year.

Blackboard Site Archiving

The Library currently archives Blackboard sites that have been taken off line. However, the best practice is for each instructor to archive his or her own Blackboard sites, so that the materials will be available at a moment's notice. To archive a Blackboard site, go to its Control Panel and use the "Export Course" or "Archive Course" tool. Either tool will create a compressed file containing the site's materials, so that the instructor can then download the archive to a local computer's hard drive. The "Archive Course" tool also includes student records, such as grades. The compressed file can be used to recreate the site in Blackboard.